Make games with ChatGPT, from chat to Codex

ChatGPT can make a small browser game right in the chat, and Codex, OpenAI’s coding agent, builds games that span lots of files. The nice part is that every ChatGPT plan includes both.

Everything here is as of September 2026, and the links mostly go to OpenAI’s own pages, so you can check what’s changed.

Which ChatGPT route should you take?

Use the chat for a first playable page, and Codex for a game with several files that you keep working on.

Route	What it is	Good for
Chat	A ChatGPT conversation where code blocks can show a preview	A one-file game in minutes
Codex in the desktop app	The ChatGPT desktop app combines ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex	A multi-file game in a project folder
Codex CLI or IDE extension	Codex in your terminal, or in VS Code, Cursor and Windsurf	Your own tools and terminal workflow
Codex cloud	Tasks that run in the cloud from chatgpt.com/codex	Changes you review before you merge

The table draws on OpenAI’s pages on code blocks, the desktop app, the Codex README and Codex cloud. Our Codex game development guide covers the last three routes in depth.

Preview a one-file game in the chat

Ask for one HTML file with everything inline, then select Preview on the code block to play it inside ChatGPT. OpenAI’s help center lists HTML pages and React components among the content a code block can preview (code blocks).

Previews run in a sandbox, and one that loads external packages or web resources depends on your workspace’s network settings (canvas article). That’s actually why the prompt below asks for no libraries, since then there’s nothing to load. If the preview still stays blank, save the file as index.html and open it in your own browser.

Write a complete one-file HTML game with inline JavaScript and CSS and no external libraries. The player steers a small boat with drag or arrow keys and collects coins for 60 seconds while dodging rocks. End each run on a score screen. It must work on a phone.

Then send follow-ups one change at a time, each small enough to test in a single run.

Rocks start drifting sideways after 30 seconds.

Save the best score in localStorage and show it on the end screen.

That way, when a change breaks the game, you know which message did it.

Open a project folder in Codex

Codex is really the route for a game you keep building, because it works on the files in a project folder and runs the tools installed on your machine (CLI docs). The desktop app runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and you just choose Codex, then open a folder or create a project (desktop app).

Its built-in browser does a lot, since it opens pages, clicks, types, takes screenshots and checks the result in the page. It works in ChatGPT on the web and in the desktop app, but it doesn’t work in the Codex CLI or IDE extension (browser docs).

OpenAI’s own browser-game workflow for Codex sets up a project in four steps (Codex use case).

1. Plan with the /plan command and save the plan to PLAN.md.

2. Write standing rules in AGENTS.md, which Codex loads into context automatically (best practices).

3. Add skills. Playwright Interactive plays the build in a live browser, and ImageGen makes sprites, backgrounds and UI elements.

4. Test after every feature. The page says “Use playwright to test the visual output of your work, and iterate if it doesn’t look right or fit the vibe.”

The same page suggests Next.js with Phaser or PixiJS, plus Fastify, WebSockets, Postgres and Redis when the game needs a backend. It even says to save the prompts behind every batch of generated assets, so you can make more that match.

For each task, OpenAI’s best-practice guide says a good prompt has four parts, the goal, the context, the constraints and a “done when” condition (best practices).

Goal: add a boss wave to the boat game at 45 seconds. Context: the game loop is in src/game.js and enemies are in src/enemies.js. Constraints: no new libraries, and it must stay smooth on a phone. Done when: the boss appears at 45 seconds, takes five hits, and its health bar is visible in a browser screenshot.

OpenAI’s post on building games with GPT-6 Astra shows how far that can scale. Its example, Void Explorer, is built with TypeScript, Vite and Three.js on WebGPU, and the post gives the size of its world.

World detail	Size
Star systems	2,048
Procedurally generated planets	More than 10,000

Playwright loads named test scenes and checks landing, walking, saving and takeoff without anyone flying across the universe by hand.

The post’s advice is to “start with one thing you want to feel right, give it a few visual references, and test the result” (Building games with Astra).

Publish the game

You can publish right from inside ChatGPT with Sites. OpenAI says Sites “lets ChatGPT create, host, refine, and share websites, web apps, and games.” It’s in public beta for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, with plan-specific usage limits (Sites).

In OpenAI’s game post, the whole thing takes one prompt: “Use @Sites to deploy this game and give me a link.” The game goes out with public access, so anyone can play it in a browser.

If you’d rather host the game yourself, itch.io takes a zip with index.html at the root and needs relative asset paths (itch.io docs). GitHub Pages serves HTML, CSS and JavaScript files straight from a repository (GitHub docs).

Then submit your game. The editorial policy lists what we accept, and every game is reviewed before it’s listed. If you plan to charge for it, read selling AI-made games first.

Which GPT model should you pick?

Start with GPT-6 Astra. OpenAI’s model list says to use it if you’re not sure where to start, and it calls Astra its flagship for complex reasoning and coding. In the chat, though, your plan decides which models you can pick.

Model	What OpenAI says it is for	Released
GPT-6 Astra	Its most capable model, for the most demanding work	September 3, 2026
GPT-6.1 Sol	Near-Astra performance at a lower cost, for complex coding and professional work	September 29, 2026
GPT-6 Luna	Its most efficient model, for focused, high-volume tasks	September 22, 2026

GPT-6.1 Sol came out a week after GPT-6 Sol, which launched alongside GPT-6 Luna.

The model list already shows GPT-6.1 Sol, while the plan comparison still names GPT-6 Sol. We took the release dates from the API changelog (changelog).

Match your ChatGPT plan to the coding workload

OpenAI’s pricing page says ChatGPT Work and Codex are included in the Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Edu and Enterprise plans (pricing).

Plan	Price	What OpenAI says about Codex
Free	$0	Explore Codex capabilities on quick coding tasks
Go	$8 a month	Use Codex for lightweight coding tasks
Plus	$20 a month	Power a few focused coding sessions each week
Pro	From $100 a month	Plans at $100, $200 or $500 a month

Business costs $20 per user a month. OpenAI says model choice, context, reasoning, tool use, retrieval and caching all affect how fast you use up your allowance. It also lists GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app for Free and Go, subject to rollout.

ChatGPT can share code generation with other tools

Starwind Route, Three Suns and towershot name ChatGPT alone. BoneCrawler’s creator, on the other hand, says Claude, ChatGPT and Codex handled code generation, while Gemini was used for planning.

Starwind Route placed 200th at Vibe Jam, and Three Suns placed 217th.

That jam’s rules required at least 90% of the code to be written by AI. The counts below are as of November 14, 2026, and they’re only as good as what creators reported. The tool names come from the jam submission form or a project README, and we don’t verify them independently.

Measure	ChatGPT games	Codex games	All 588 listed games
Listed games	19	101	588
Use Three.js	5	67	322
Playable on mobile	8	53	293
Online multiplayer	2	42	200

GPT-6 Astra is named as a model on 10 games, among them little flock, Meridian Wake and Chess3dastra. According to its entry, little flock was made with GPT-6 Astra in Codex.

You can browse them all on the ChatGPT hub, the Codex hub, the GPT-6 Astra hub or among games made with OpenAI models.

Move the game into a project folder

When the chat version outgrows one file, Codex game development covers the agent workflow in depth. Claude Code vs Codex for game development and best AI for game development put the agents side by side. Game assets with AI covers sprites, sound and 3D models for the game you just built.

Cursor game development and make games with Gemini answer the same question for two other tools. For the tool-neutral basics, see how to make a game with AI and vibe coding a game, and the Vibe Jam 2026 archive has every jam entry we list.